Piscamour American Brown

[Piscator]

First of all thank you to Seymour for contributing the recipe on my "Design me a recipe... using Cascade" thread. I was thinking about doing an Amber but the JBK January brewalong looks like it might be getting into similar territory to the recipe I had in mind and since I plan to join in with that, I thought I'd go dark... but I've never done a BIPA before so decided I'm doing the Piscamour American Brown as a Black IPA.
I'm cold steeping 400g of black malt currently - hopefully this will give some roasty notes but not be overpowering. (I took a punt on 400g cold steeped giving about the same colour contribution as the 231g in the mash)

Recipe as provided by Seymour:

PISCAMOUR AMERICAN BROWN
Being a Piscator and Seymour collaboration brew. All aboard the "Cascadian Dark Ale" bandwagon.

6 US gal = 5 Imperial gal = 22.7 Liters

GRAINBILL*
80% = 9.07 lbs = 4.11 kg, Pale Malt
12% = 1.36 lbs = 617 g, Torrified Wheat
2% = .23 lb = 104 g, Crystal Malt
1.5% = .17 lb = 77 g, Chocolate Malt
4.5% = .51 lb = 231 g, Black Malt

MASH low at 149°F/65°C for 60-90 minutes for maximum fermentability.

RAISE temp to 172°F/77.8°C, then VORLAUF, then SPARGE to collect 7.5 US gal/6.2 Imp gal/28.4 L pre-boil.

BOIL 60 minutes

HOPBILL†
33.3% = 1 oz = 28 g, Cascade, first wort addition
33.3% = 1 oz = 28 g, Cascade, 20 minutes remaining
33.3% = 1 oz = 28 g, Cascade, 5 minutes remaining, steep until chilled

I will be pitching with 2nd gen SO4 and plan to dry hop with about 50g of Cascade later on.

It's going to be a busy morning - I have to bottle the Jims ESB and harvest the yeast while the mash is on for this brew... oh well, no rest for the wicked

See you tomorrow.

Cheers
Steve

Edit:-
Hops weighed out and ready for the morning... oh man they smell AMAZING, chock full of blackcurrant! I have high hopes for this one.
Water tested - surprising drop in alkalinity from normal so AMS amount adjusted accordingly
TDS where expected so salts weighed out accordingly

[Piscator]

Broadcasting to you live from the mash tun...

Jims ESB is bottled and tucked up safely in the shed to condition - a sneaky snifter shows this is shaping up very nicely indeed, I am particularly impressed with the toffee notes I am getting from the crystal/caramalt combo.

The Piscamour American Brown is about halfway through the sparge with FWH in and they smell superb

I've started a write up for a piece of Uni work too.

Who says men can't multi-task

Oh... and sorry there are no pictures, I forgot to charge my phone (see point above)

[Piscator]

All done and sat in the fermenting fridge safe and sound - cleaning up done, need to fix some shelves and brackets up now to regain some domestic brownie points

Wort is a fantastic dark brown/black with a red hue when held up to the light - I should have called it the "Creature From The Black Lagoon"

Cheers
Steve

[seymour]

Sounds like it's going perfectly to plan, can't wait to hear how it tastes! Cheers!

[Piscator]

Hi Seymour - yes it's looking and smelling great. The yeast has taken off nicely with a great looking rocky head, I can't wait to get the dry hops in and see how it smells!

Cheers
Steve

[Piscator]

MMMMmmmmmmmm.....................


Cascadey goodness, mellow background roast notes, rich smooth mouthfeel and slight fruitiness at the end.
Oh, and a visual joke with the glass

Piscamour American brown is a resounding success.... hic Thank you Seymour

Cheers
Steve

[seymour]

Looks fantastic, I'm glad it turned-out so well.

I love that base recipe too. Try it again with other intense hops like Simcoe, Chinook, El Dorado, Crystal, Amarillo...your favourite Australian or New Zealand varieties, etc.

[WalesAles]

Pisc,
Good looking Brew there!
Next pic please put a backlight behind it so we can see the Black/Brown Red Hue!
Love a big colourful beer!

WA

[seymour]

...Next pic please put a backlight behind it so we can see the Black/Brown Red Hue!...

I'm curious to see if that black is reddish at the corners too, but his steeped black malt ended up being 7.54% of the grainbill, so it's likely dark, dark, dark to the point of opaque. Nothing wrong with that, though, especially since he described the roasted flavours as still only "mellow" and "background." I've been achieving similar results lately by stirring the black malt and/or roasted barley into the mash right before sparging, and I'm very pleased with the the final flavour profile.

[Piscator]

Hello Chaps - yes Seymour it is pretty dark stuff... if I hold a glass right up to a light bulb it has a red hue but pretty dark all the same.
The roast character is there, but very very mild and not the first hit - the hops are the first thing that gets you on the nose and tongue, then you get the restrained roasty notes.
It's impressive how well this is drinking for what I would consider a big full beer that I only brewed just over 20 days ago.